The Burn
by Raccha
Summary: Read to find out!!! Hg/Ss pairing...unusual story though, not an overused plot (I think)...R/R plz!!!
1. Prologue

* ~ The Burn ~ *  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
It burned. It burned like a white-hot coal, pressing into her flesh. The burning spread throughout her body like a virus. "A virus to torture..." she thought to herself in between screams. And the pain. Her face was mangled in horror at the sting of it. Her head was throbbing, and she writhed and squirmed within his grasp. But he held her steady and still. He held so tightly you could see the veins carrying the black blood of evil under his white skin. His red eyes glistened. Until, suddenly she let out a final cry. And it stopped. It was over. Her breathing came in short gasps and her hands were shaking. Finally, her eyes opened and she looked at her arm. There it was, the root of all the pain. It looked so strange against her pale skin, like a drop of blood on the purest of white snow. But then, who can tell what one is like inside? As he walked away, she pulled the sleeve of her robe down, and made her way back out of the forest to Hogwarts. No one could know, no one except for him. If they knew, they would kill her, for she had been branded by the Dark Mark. 


	2. Chapter 1

* ~ The Burn ~ * Chapter 1  
  
Severus Snape was sitting in his private chambers, drinking a cup of tea and staring at the fire, when a tentative knock came at the door. Severus was depressed and angry, and at that particular moment had no inclination to leave his spot by the hearth to open the door. It would only be someone who's presence would serve to annoy him more anyway. The rapping on the door came again. Severus, very irritated at this point, yelled, "Who's there?!?!" He thought to himself, 'Who dares to disturb me at this time of night?' Perhaps I have neglected to mention the time on Severus' grandfather clock - 3:00 AM. A small voice answered him, "It's Hermione, Severus."  
  
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Why was Hermione calling him Severus instead of Professor Snape? Well, it would not be very comfortable calling your colleague Professor, would it? Three years after Hermione had graduated, Professor Vector had retired, and Dumbledore had hired Hermione to take the esteemed professor's place to teach Arithmancy. Hermione loved the subject and was happy to teach it. Of course...that was not the only reason for her return to Hogwarts...  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Severus slowly got up from his chair, and opened the door, grumbling as he did so. When he opened the door, he could not believe the sight that met his eyes. Hermione was bloody and sweaty, and looked as if she would faint at any moment. He quickly ushered her into the room and laid her down on his bed. 'Damn!' he thought to himself. He knew what was wrong with her. With the last bit of strength she had, she pulled up the sleeve of her robes, revealing the Dark Mark, before lapsing into unconsciousness. 


	3. Chapter 2

* ~ The Burn ~ * Chapter 2  
  
A/N - I know these chapters are short, and they will continue to be short (I think, although this one is probably longer). I am on vacation from school right now, so I can write more often than when I go back on Thursday (Jan. 2). And, I forgot the disclaimer...but you guys know I wouldn't *steal* anything! Don't you? DON'T YOU?!?! If not:  
  
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, only the plot.  
  
And without further ado...The Burn! Chapter 2!  
  
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When Hermione woke up, she was in an unfamiliar room. The picture was a little fuzzy, so she blinked a few times, and everything became much clearer. She took a look around the room she was in. The room was almost all black, it was decorated in black and silver. There was hardly any furniture, just the bed she was sleeping in, a grandfather clock (showing 9:00 AM), a chess set with two hard chairs, and an armchair facing a fireplace. Wait...she looked again at the black armchair. There was someone in it!!! He looked asleep and it finally registered with Hermione, that this was Professor Severus Snape, her hermit colleague. What was she doing in Severus' chambers? In a flash it all came back to her...  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
It was Friday, and she was particularly tired after a day of classes. This was not because most had been Gryffindor-Slytherin classes, as you might have expected though. After all, her students were very eager to learn, and of course that was good, but there were some things you just couldn't explain, do you know what I mean? Two plus two is four, it always works. Why? How did we get this system? It's a convention, she tried to explain to her students. But they just wouldn't listen to her! Thank goodness there were only a few students who did this to her...still...it only took one... Hermione rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. Then she composed herself and went down to dinner.  
  
"How are your classes going Hermione?" Minerva McGonagall asked.  
  
"Do you HAVE to ask Minerva?"  
  
"Yes, I suppose those bags under your eyes tell the story themselves, eh?"  
  
Hermione nodded and helped herself to some lamb chops. She turned to her other side and started talking with little Fillius (A/N - is that his first name? If you find a different one, email me!) Flitwick about the effect of the newly discovered Knowledge charm on children and whether it made them more unwilling to do work, or more willing to. Suddenly, without warning, a great black owl swooped down and dropped a letter in front of Hermione. She was puzzled, as the rest of the people around her were. Post usually came in the mornings, didn't it? Slowly she opened the envelope. She hoped this wasn't bad news...  
  
As Hermione scanned the contents of the letter, a tear dropped from her eye, and then another, and another! Soon she was openly crying and fled to her rooms.  
  
**But, let us pause time for a moment, and read the letter ourselves, shall we?  
  
"Dear Hermione, It is such a pity about your parents... but... they had to die... nothing I could do about it... it's just part of the cycle of nature... but, if it eases your pain any, they went fast... it's a pity, it wasn't even any fun... hardly any screams... -- Oh I think *you know who* this is by now..."  
  
Perhaps this would not have been so bad if it weren't for the other contents of the envelope - pictures of Hermione's parents, after they died, taken from every angle. It is no wonder Hermione fled the Great Hall.**  
  
In her bedroom, she was thinking deeply. What was the use of living any more? Voldemort had killed her parents, why even stay for her job? He was proven he can kill and disrupt anyone or anything... why even try anymore? "Maybe I should just..." she murmured and looked out her tower window. That one glance, almost longing, said more than her words ever could. But quickly, her thoughts turned to anger! Why did MY parents die and no one else's?!?! They deserved to lose something too!!! This made her think of a different path of eventual suicide... why not kill while I can...? Horrible thoughts filled her mind, and each ended with screams and people begging for mercy. "After all," she thought, "What do I have to lose anymore?"  
  
And so, for the next week, Hermione shifted her attention from her classes to finding a way to get initiated into Voldemort's death eaters. She felt very lucky indeed when she saw the same black owl that had delivered her the fateful letter fly into a house near Dervish (A/N - did I spell it right?) and Bangs in Hogsmeade. She followed the owl down passageway after passageway and finally reached its destination. There was an armchair by the fire and Hermione didn't have to see the bony white fingers gripping the sides to know who was in it. She cleared her throat and began, in a trembling voice, "I-I w-would like to j-join the d-d-death eaters, s- sir..." A cold voice answered her, "Well, for the first thing, you will no longer call me SIR!!!! You must call me Master, as all the other scum do!" Hermione nodded.  
  
"You're the Granger girl, correct?"  
  
"Yes si-Master..."  
  
"I have been wanting you for a long time..."  
  
"Why is that Master?"  
  
"Curious are you? I HATE curiosity."  
  
"I'm sorry Master."  
  
"Come to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where it meets the edge of the grounds tomorrow, Friday, at 1:00 AM for your initiation...NOW LEAVE!"  
  
Hermione quickly scrambled up the stairs and ran out of Hogsmeade. She was scared, but at the same time pleased with what she had done.  
  
----  
  
The next day she went to the ascertained place at the given time and the ceremony was performed, as we have already discussed. It was only walking up to the castle, had she the slightest knawing feeling of regret for what she had done... but... it was done with... and could never be taken back, not even through a time-turner. All of a sudden, as she was passing a stairway to the dungeons, Hermione was hit by a huge wave of nausea and dizziness. She stumbled down the stairway to the nearest room she could find, which was, incidentally, Severus' chambers. She knocked, knowing that he would help her. After all, he was a death eater too (A/N - in my story he is *_*). She knocked, and the scene progressed as we have already heard.  
  
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Hermione, her mind coming back to the present, found she was extremely tired, and since today was Saturday, she fell back into an uneasy sleep. 


	4. Chapter 3

* ~ The Burn ~ * Chapter 3  
  
"NO!!!" Severus woke up in a silent scream, with his mouth open wide. He was in a cold sweat and he heart was beating rapidly. However, who could blame him with the nightmare he had had. He tried to recall it, however painful it would be, for the sake of Master, who had come to realize Severus' dreams were not petty random sequences to be dismissed quickly, as of late. He put his finger into his pensive (A/N spelled right?) and closed his eyes.  
  
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He was running through a forest, something was following him. A force kept trying to hold him from running; it cajoled him and coaxed him into thinking everything was alright, that he didn't have to run anymore. And then, another voice called out, that the first was lying, never to turn back, that he was too far gone into the woods. As Severus turned around and around, trying to find the source of these voices, another resounded through the trees. But this voice, it was so unlike the others! It was sweet as a bird and told him to do what his heart told him.he was just about to decide that what his heart wanted was to sing with it, when the singing turned into screams getting higher and louder by the second, Severus was confused and angry, and tried to see who was destroying the song, but all he saw was the sky light up green with one last of the voice's screams. Then Severus woke up.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
"Oh no," Severus murmured. He wasn't stupid. He knew what this dream meant, especially since he had had it many nights before, although the song wasn't there to save him then. He couldn't show this to Master! Master would surely kill him! Severus glanced around and made sure he wasn't being watched, before erasing the memory from his pensive.  
  
After this action, he stretched and got up from the armchair he was in, and peered over at the sleeping girl on his bed. She looked so peaceful. she had no idea what she had gotten herself into! She had no knowledge of the painful feeling of the Cruciatus Curse, or the nervousness of going to a Deatheater meeting and hoping to pass inspection, or the guilt that EVERYONE feels, no matter how heartless they are, after killing an innocent. He sighed, and gently prodded Hermione to wake her up. They had a lot of training to do before her first Deatheater meeting. At his touch, Hermione squirmed and curled up into a ball. She seemed half awake, but when she spoke, it was to say, "Five more minutes Mum! Please." He didn't seem surprised. He had seen it before. After initiation, everyone got delirious and drifted back to the childhood they were finally leaving. He was told that he had cried for his teddy bear. Then Hermione opened her mouth again. She paused, and Severus watched her expectantly. Then she started to sing. Severus' eyes grew wide and he drew back. Her voice was as sweet as a bird's. 


End file.
